It’s overwhelming. The murder of George Floyd on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic ripped the cover off a pot already boiling with racial and political division in our nation. We all knew it was there, simmering up and over the edge once in awhile. But this time, the heat will not relent and the agitation refuses to be soothed. And for good reason—so many heartbreaking and life-or-death good reasons.

Like you, I’m questioning, What can I do? Where do I start? How can I help? How I wish this article would provide you and me with a checklist to bring America back from the brink of a chasm centuries in the making. But it won’t.

What you and I and all Christians can do, however, is pray.

Last weekend my pastor husband preached on Matthew 9:35-38. You might know the passage from Jesus’s famous exhortation, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (vv. 37b-38).

But right before that well-known quotation the Bible says, “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (vv. 36). Those crowds sound just like the ones I keep seeing in the news, on social media, on streets throughout the country and even now around the world. We are a people harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

In Jesus’s compassion his exhortation is to pray. Time is almost up, he says. The harvest is about to be taken in and the crowds don’t yet follow the Savior. He longs to help them, to rescue them before it’s too late. He doesn't say to the disciples get to work. He says pray.

In the face of urgent need the Savior says pray.

Of course this does not negate going. Jesus’s final command on earth to us is, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Going and helping and doing and serving is required. But first, Jesus says, we must pray. Prayer is primary and vital.

And it’s something we can all do right now. Our church family gathered last night (in the open air) to intercede for our nation. Below is the prayer guide we used. It is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to fuel the thoughts and meditations of the one who prays.

Pray, friends, to the Lord of the harvest for our nation.

The Lord’s prayer:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-15)

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Worship and adoration:

• God’s sovereignty (…all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. - Colossians 1:16-17)

• God’s mercy (For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. - Psalm 86:5) 

• His holiness and perfection (There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. - 1 Samuel 2:2)

• His justice (But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. - Isaiah 5:16)

• He is Creator (The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. - Psalm 24:1)

• God made every human Imago Dei, in his image (So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them - Genesis 1:27)

• His perfect will is that we would all be alive here and now, and gathered together in Parker as a church body. (The God who made the world and everything in it … himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. - Acts 17:24-27) 

Confession:

• Our brokenness as individuals, as a church, as Americans (None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. - Romans 3:11)

• Our selfishness (Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. - Hebrews 3:12-13)

• Our fear (Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. - Matthew 6:34)

• Our role in division in the global/local church (I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. - Ephesians 4:1-3)

• Falling short in caring for others and in empathy (And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. - Galatians 6:9-10)

• We are quick to judge and speak, and we are slow to listen. (Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. - James 1:19-20)

• We seek a personal, political, racial (or any other descriptor here) agenda above a Kingdom-agenda. (But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. - Matthew 6:33)

• We fail to love God and neighbor every day (And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. - Mark 12:30-31)

Ask:

• Pray for God’s kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (see above, Matthew 6:9-15)

• Healing and unity in the church throughout the nation, as well as the Denver-metro area (Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. - Philippians 2:3)

• Faith over fear (There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. - 1 John 4:18)

• Peaceful and just police, military, civic leaders, mayors, governors, and our President (learn to do good seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. - Isaiah 1:17; First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. - 1 Timothy 2:1-2) 

• An end to violence, rioting, looting, and harm to people and our cities (The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. - Psalm 11:5; Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart. - Zechariah 7:9-10)

• Help for families, communities, and businesses that have been harmed (The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. -Psalm 103:6)

• That we might see how God is moving in the midst of the chaos. (For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39)

• Peace and justice to reign. (He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8)

Thanksgiving and Close

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. - Revelation 21:3-4)

Author’s Note: Special thanks to K. A. Ellis whose Tweet Thread on June 1, combined with my husband’s sermon on prayer, spurred me on to turn my anxiety into prayer (Philippians 4:6).